Category: Auspol

The Double Diss: Canberra goes ‘Mean Girls’

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Image Credit: None that I readily admit to. Not my image,yet  my best and worst hack photoshop job, ever.

I can always use an excuse for a Mean Girls (2004) reference and tonight seemed as good of a time as any.

There’s chit chat around the Hill (Canberra) that Malcolm might call an early (pre-September) Election because the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) Bill was defeated for a second time. If a Bill is blocked by the other House three times, then it cannot be re-introduced, so this places the Prime Minister in a tricky spot – try again? or advise the Governor General (GG) to dissolve Parliament and call an early election?

Now for the Mean Girls references:

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My Two Cents: Tony Ab-boot-ed Out of Power

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Tonight Tony Abbott was voted out of his position as Prime Minister by the Liberal Party.

I could honestly discuss leadership spills, personalities, power plays and finer details of the spill but, I have already written extensively about Leadership Spills in previous posts, particularly “Cleaning up after the Spill” from earlier this year.

Australia hasn’t had a Prime Minister complete a full term of Government since John Howard in 2007.

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My Two Cents: Cleaning up after the ‘Spill’

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Since 1971, there have been 17 Leadership spills – 12 have been successful (I.e. the leader of the party changed), 5 were unsuccessful; between both major parties – the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA) and the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

When it comes to spilled milk, there is no use crying over it; but this article will discuss the ‘watermark’ which spill motions have left on Australian Politics.

Spill Motion;

In Australian politics, a leadership spill is a declaration that the leadership of a Parliamentary party is vacant, and open for re-election. A spill may involve all leadership positions (Leader and Deputy Leader in both houses), or just the Leader.

Leadership spills have happened more times than I first thought. However there have been 7 in the last 7 years (since 2008), which leaves 10 ‘spills’ in 26 years before that (1971-2007). Off those figures, you could deduce that spills have gone from being every 2.6 years, to being (on average) every year.

So spills are not a recent phenomenon.

I observed some repeat offenders:

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My Two Cents: Can Tony Abbott improve his image mid-term?

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“The (Abbott) government’s narrative is that they haven’t been able to do anything… There’s a negative story attached to the government. They must somehow shift the momentum. The mould will be set if they don’t do something soon and they will have a really, really hard time — and most likely will lose the next election.”

Source: ‘Tony Abbott’s knightmare could be fatal if his government fails to change tack‘

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My Two Cents: meeting the Hon. Stephen Smith

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On Tuesday 30th of September, former Foreign, Trade and Defence Minister Stephen Smith spoke at the monthly branch meeting of the Australian Institute of International Affairs for WA. His speaking topic was “Continuity in Australian Foreign Policy”.

But what is “continuity in Australian Foreign Policy”? What on God’s green earth does that mean?!

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Politics in Kicks meets Director General of ASIO, David Irvine

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Pictured: Your Fair Author and Director General of ASIO, David Irvine

When: 6pm, March 4th
Where: St George’s College, UWA
Who: Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation [ASIO], David Irvine
What: Speaking on “Intelligence and National Security in the Democratic State”

**NB: This special event, hosted by the Australian Institute of International Affairs WA was held under Chatham House Rule**

**I took extensive notes throughout his talk, this blog entry is based on them.**

I didn’t know much about ASIO, ASIS, or Secret Services until I attended this talk and had the privilege of meeting David afterwards.

This is what I learned…..

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